Microsoft Loses AT&T Patent Suit Over Windows Exports

Law360, New York (July 14, 2005, 12:00 AM EDT) -- In a case that harks back to the $565 million Eolas lawsuit against Microsoft, the Federal Circuit on Wednesday upheld a lower court’s decision that the software maker was liable for infringing on an AT&T patent for converting speech into computer code in copies of Windows sold overseas.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Microsoft was liable for the unauthorized distribution of codec technology, used to compress speech signals into data, in copies of Windows overseas.